It first started making ice-cream cones and wafers in 1908 and is now the king of snow balls, tea cakes and macaroons.

But yesterday the directors of Scottish confectionary firm Lees Foods set out plans to create their very own financial sweet spot with a £6m management buyout.

Lees, which acquired Edinburgh-based Waverley Biscuit Company in 2003 and floated on the Alternative Investment Market in June 2005, is one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of ice-cream to Mr Whippy vans and the trade.

Sweet spot: Lees is one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of ice-cream to Mr Whippy

Directors have created an acquisition
vehicle called Randotte offering to take Lees private at 230p-a-share – a
12.5 per cent premium to the pre-Easter closing price.

It
has already managed to garner firm support from investors with 40.9 per
cent giving ‘irrevocable undertaking’ to back the debt financed
management buyout.

Lees (up 7p to 231p) is also big in meringues and nougat and owns the Carousel brand.

It operates from a 27,000 sq ft production facility in the East end of Glasgow.